Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are susceptible to respiratory tract infections at an early age; with the most frequent initial isolate being the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Subsequently, these patients become chronically...

Candida albicans is a fungal species that naturally exists as a commensal member of the human microbiota, but can assume a pathogenic lifestyle and subsequently induce life-threatening systemic infections. The ability of the fungus to grow in...

Vibrio cholerae is the etiologic agent of cholera in humans. Intestinal colonization occurs via ingestion of contaminated food and water and results in symptoms that include the production of the characteristic rice water stool, vomiting, and...

Cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) is a primarily bacterial and nearly universal second messenger used to stimulate a variety of responses from the cell by binding effector proteins. It is created by enzymes called diguanylate cyclases (DGCs) and broken...

Vibrio cholerae is a gram-negative bacterial pathogen that causes the severe diarrheal disease cholera. Several bacterial factors have been identified that are critical for V. cholerae intestinal colonization. The best characterized of these...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the model organisms used to study the developmental process of biofilm formation in Gram-negative bacteria. Recently, a genetic approach {O'Toole, 1998 #404} was taken to study biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa and...

Microbial biofilm formation is thought of as a developmental pathway, whereby cells progress through environmentally regulated and temporally distinct stages during transition from free-swimming lifestyles to members of a structured...

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is classically known as an essential co-enzyme for hydride transfer reactions in metabolism. More recently, it has been recognized as a consumed substrate of ADPribose transfer enzymes...

NAD+ is an essential co-enzyme for hydride transfer enzymes and a consumed substrate of multiple signaling enzymes including the sirtuins, a family of protein lysine deacetylases shown to regulate longevity in a wide array of organisms. We have...

The overall scope of my thesis project is to determine effects of farnesol, a secreted factor produced by C. albicans , on P. aeruginosa virulence. These two organisms are frequently found with one another in mixed infections and our lab has...

Biofilm formation is a complex process culminating in a multicellular microbial structure encased in an extracellular matrix. In order for planktonic cells to initiate and proceed through biofilm formation, they must appropriately regulate a number...

The localization of the putative adhesin LapA to the cell surface is a key regulatory step required by Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 to irreversibly attach to a surface and form a biofilm. LapA contains several domains conserved in predicted...